Lichtenstein painting returned to owner after 42 years

A multimillion-dollar Roy Lichtenstein painting of an electrical cord that was sent out for a cleaning 42 years ago and disappeared has been returned to its owner.

The government said the painting turned up at a New York warehouse which received it from the Quinta Galeria art gallery in BogotaPhoto: Bebeto Matthews/AP

3:56PM BST 17 Oct 2012

The 1961 black-and-white painting, 'Electric Cord', was bought by US art dealer Leo Castelli in the 1960s for $750. It is now worth about $4 million (£2.5 million), according to US attorney Preety Bharara

"Returning stolen art and artefacts is an important mission of this office, and it is always gratifying when we are successful," he said.

Castelli sent the painting to an art restorer for cleaning in January 1970 and never got it back. He died in 1999. The painting resurfaced six years after the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation published an image of it on its holiday greeting card in 2006 and asked the art community to help find it.

Castelli's widow, Barbara Bertozzi Castelli, said she plans to display it in her Manhattan home "if I find a place to hang it." She said she had never seen it before Tuesday.

Mr Barbara declined to say whether criminal charges will be filed against anyone in connection with the painting's disappearance.

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The government said the painting turned up at a New York warehouse, the Hayes Storage Facility, which received it from the Quinta Galeria art gallery in Bogota, Colombia. The gallery had received it on consignment from Sally Goldreyer, the widow of the art restorer, Daniel Goldreyer, court documents show.

Sally Goldreyer said in court documents that the painting was discovered in the locker of one of her husband's employees after her husband died in 2009. She said the contents of the employee's locker were given to a friend who asked her to sell the painting for him, according to the court documents.

The government said the painting was going to be bought by the Quinta Galeria but Sally Goldreyer refunded the gallery's deposit when she saw an internet posting saying the painting was missing. Mrs Goldreyer signed an agreement with the government to return the painting to Mrs Castelli, though it said the deal "shall in no way be deemed an admission of culpability, liability or guilt on behalf of Sally Goldreyer or any of her agents, past or present."